Quartet bid to swim Channel for charity

FOUR men are to swim the Channel and back in relay in aid of the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed.

FOUR men are to swim the Channel and back in relay in aid of the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed.

Paul Bampton, Glyn Bevans, Richard Dines and Pete Lillie will set off from Samphire Hoe, near Dover, on Thursday and expect to arrive in France up to 20 hours later. They will then turn round and swim back.

The men will be swimming under the Channel Swimming Association rules, which mean they will only be allowed to wear swimming shorts, goggles and a silicone hat. They will each swim for an hour at a time and will have to stay in the same order throughout. If they are successful, they will become only the third team to complete a double crossing of the 21-mile Channel.

The men, who met as recreational swimmers at Bradfield College Sports Centre in Reading, are hoping to raise £10,000. They have been training since September and regularly swim for up to two hours at a time in the sea at Bournemouth.

Mr Dines, 51, completed a solo swim of the Channel in 13 hours in September, while Mr Lillie, 56, has taken part in open water swims.

Mr Bevans, 56, from Newbury, is a former triathlete and now the British triathlon team manager.

He said: “We’ve been training all through the winter, even in water as cold as 3C. The conditions and challenges have been numerous, from contending with large rollers in late November through to a swarm of barrel jellyfish down in May.

“It’ll be an adrenalin-pumped period leading up to the swim because we won’t know until 12 hours before when we’re off because the skipper of the boat has to wait to the latest weather forecast.